Scott Wilson sat in the hockey office at the University of Massachusetts Lowell last Thursday. In front of the 21-year-old was a professional hockey contract, faxed to the school by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“You almost have to shake your head,” Wilson said, recalling the moment. “I said to my dad, ‘If you told me four or five years ago I’d be sitting here, I wouldn’t have believed it.’ It was a dream come true.”

Five years ago, while most of the players with dreams of playing in the NHL were playing junior hockey, Wilson was returning to Oakville Rangers major midgets. Overlooked in the Ontario Hockey League draft, Wilson joined the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Georgetown Raiders as a 17-year-old but once again was bypassed in his NHL draft year.

It was during his second straight 20-goal, 60-point season with the Raiders that he finally began to garner some attention. He was named to the Canadian Junior Hockey League Prospects Game and played in the World Jr. A Challenge.

Wilson had been through this before, though. So, on the day of the 2011 NHL draft, he went to work at his summer job at a Milton nursery, not really expecting to be selected.

One thousand, four hundred and fifty miles away in Minnesota, the draft stretched into its second day. Two hundred and eight players had already been selected and just three picks remained. The 28th pick of the seventh round belonged to Pittsburgh, a selection that had been acquired from the San Jose Sharks for the Penguins’ seventh-rounder the previous year.

Every Penguin scout still had someone left on their list and Dave McNamara was no different. He made a case for Wilson, a player he described as having above-average skating and skill and “an over-the-top compete level. A guy who played hard and would go through a wall for you.”

McNamara was willing to do the same. In addition to speaking to Wilson's coaches, the former Pens’ scout had gone as far as talking to Wilson’s vice-principal and teachers at White Oaks and had heard nothing but glowing reviews. “He was a kid I really believed in,” McNamara said, “and fortunately (Pittsburgh) believed in what I had to say.”

While Wilson planted shrubs, the Penguins announced his name as the 209th pick of the draft.

Wilson went to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell where he was named the Hockey East rookie of the year and helped the Riverhawks reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in 16 years.

As a sophomore, he duplicated the 16 goals and 38 points he put up in his rookie year. Again UMass Lowell made the NCAA tournament and, playing at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Centre, the school reached its first Frozen Four, only to be edged 3-2 in the semifinal by Yale, the eventual national champ.

An offer was made to turn pro, but Wilson felt he would be better served returning for his junior season.

“I knew I needed to get bigger,” said the 6-foot, 173-pound winger, “and work on my all-around game.”

Wilson returned and the Riverhawks won the Hockey East title again and made their third straight NCAA tournament, where they were edged 4-3 by Boston College in the quarter-finals.

Though the year did not go exactly as planned — three separate injuries hindered Wilson and forced him to miss 10 games, while his point totals dipped to 19 in 31 games — he felt he had accomplished what he set out to in his junior season.

“The last three years have been a blast — two Hockey East titles, a Frozen Four — but I think it’s time for me to move on,” he said. “I did think about maybe coming back, but when the time came, I was feeling healthy and this was a great opportunity.”

Wilson has joined Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, along with four other recent signees. Though he’s not sure when he’ll see his first game action, he is content for now to learn the team’s system, get accustomed to the speed of the game and learn from the team’s veterans.

It is not unheard for a player drafted as late as Wilson to make the NHL. Of the 41 players drafted 209th overall, nine have played in the NHL — though only three played more than four games. But success is possible. Ondrej Palat, the player selected right before Wilson in 2011, is currently enjoying a 20-goal rookie season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

And Wilson is not without his backers that he can play at the highest level. The Hockey News’ Future Watch issue lists Wilson as the Penguins’ eighth-best prospect.

“When you take a chance on a kid — although for me, I didn’t really think we were taking a chance. I’m convinced he can play in the NHL and I think he’s good enough to play on the second or third line,” McNamara said. “The day that kid puts on a Pittsburgh Penguins sweater will be one of the greatest days of my scouting career.”